The practice of mountaintop removal mining has spurred a great deal of research and policy debate since January of this year, when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) vetoed a federal permit for the 2,278 acre Spruce No. 1 mine in Logan County, West Virginia. The veto of the permit was EPA’s 13th use of its veto authority, granted under the Clean Water Act (Public Law 92-500). In the practice of mountaintop removal mining, upper...

This post was contributed by Piper Corp, ESA Science Policy Analyst. In a recent op-ed, West Virginia Senator Robert Byrd recently astonished the coal industry by criticizing its lack of flexibility and unwillingness to work constructively with the federal government. The following excerpt summarizes much of the senator’s message: Most people understand that America cannot meet its current energy needs without coal, but there...